Thursday, December 22, 2011

In the park I sat, all lonely and bitter. I watched the early winter leaves fall with the wind. They covered the grass. I picked one up and crushed it in my hand, then opened my palm to find the wind blowing it away back to the ground with the rest. But it could no longer fit in. It was no longer a precious ornament to decorate the naked grass. Now it was trash. It's distorted shape did not stand out from the rest, but it was clear that it no longer served a purpose in the pretty tapestry that nature had created. I liked what I had made. I piked up another leaf and proceeded to crush it with my palm. I don't recall how long i did this for. I must have crushed a thousand leaves while listening to their crunching before I realized it was getting dark.

I looked up above me to see that the sky was black with clouds. It wasn't usually like this. I looked around me in that park; there were still a child with her mother playing in the playground. It must not be that late. There was a homeless man laying on his cardboard mansion. There was a gathering of people, probably of a religious nature, in a remote corner of the park humming their heavenly tunes. Individuals running their habitual routine of circuling the park. Walkers with their pets trying to stay in shape. There was traffic all the way on the road; passing by, going, stopping. There was people with places to go. There was life all around. There was life all around outside of my little, lonely, and bitter bubble. There was life outside of my sad, and tired shell. I disregarded it. I ignored it. I was content with myself, if that made any sense.

The clouds moved about like the people did. I wondered if they had a place to go too. They were so black. Once might fancy they were made of ashes. Like someone burned the clouds that were usually in our winter sky. I turned my eyes and head to gaze upon the tree, the tree whose leaves I had been crushing. It stood tall, all trunk and branches. I was amazed at how magnificently beautiful it was. It could even be that it was far more beautiful now than in its summer days when it displayed its new foliage. I laid myself on that pool of gaunt leaves and stared at the sky as the clouds rushed. They were moving in circles. Had they nowhere to go? Were they where they were supposed to be?

"Clouds" I said to them. "Why do you look like you don't fit in this December sky? Are you like the leaves that I crushed to ruin the art of nature's tapestry? Has someone distorted you to mock the heavens?"

The clouds circled above me, above the park, above the people and the cars. They weren't going anywhere.

"I seem to not fit in this world just as you don't fit in the sky." I whispered to them, "Things sometimes just don't fit where they belong."

They stopped moving. They stopped as if the wind had ceased to blow. It was about to rain, I could tell. I closed my eyes and opened my mouth sticking out my tongue. I was waiting for the rain to fall. I was laying on a pool of haggard leaves with my mouth open and my eyes closed waiting for a drop of rain to poar upon my tongue so I could taste it. It would taste like nothing. But the plain flavor would comfort me, that even those clouds that were made of ashes and didn't fit where they belonged served a purpose. I laid there for what seemed like forever. I was about to give up hope when I suddenly felt a drop of a liquid substace fall upon my forehead. It slowly dripped down the side of my head. I didn't move. I stood there motionless. I waited with my lips parted for a drop of rain. It finally came. It fell upon my mouth like a kiss from the clouds. I could taste it. It's flavor was not plain. It did not taste like nothing. It tasted sweet. Not only that, It tasted metal. It tasted like blood!

I opened my eyes and much to my surprise I was correct. Those burned clouds made of ashes were crying blood. At first It was a light drizzle but it quickly escalated into a violent precipitation. I stood up and looked at the broken leaves covered in red blood. They looked amazing. I was starting to notice all thing going on around me besides the rain.

The dogs had escaped from their masters and barked nonstop. They seemed to be scared. The child, who moments ago was playing and laghing with her mother, was now sobbing deeply and loudly, her mother trying to comfort her... In the road there had been a severe car crash. It was a head on collision and one of the cars seemed to be on fire. How did I not hear that? I wondered. The homeless man laid on his cardboard mansion still. He did not seem to care.

The ground was now completely covered in blood. Every tree and car and building that I could see dripped vibrant red. I couldn't help but think that the world had never looked better. The tree, with its trunk and its branches all covered in blood, had never looked better.

I started to feel weak, I started to feel nacious! Was this vision making me sick? How could this beatiful, magnificent, and astonishing vision make me sick?

"SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULANCE! PLEASE! MY CHILD DIES!" the mother of the girl who had ceased to sob cried. "SHE IS SO PALE! SHE FAILTLY BREATHS! SHE IS COLD! HELP! CALL AN AMBULANCE" she begged, "PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Her face was so pale. She was sitting under the playground, which protected her from the rain. With her face not covered in blood I could see how pale she was. Her face was almost white and her lips were like Ivory! I tried to walk over to her since she was not far away. I took one step in her direction and my knee went numb. It was as if I had take an arrow to it! I collapsed upon the ground. I felt as if I were to fait. I stood up, very tired. The temperature seemed to have dropped considerably for I was so cold. I turned to look at her again. She had fainted. It was as if she had lost blood. The dogs had stopped barking. I looked around to see. They were on the ground. Had they fainted? Were they dead? I sat down for I was so tired I could no longer stand. I looked over at the homeless man. Had he fainted too? Was he dead perhaps? I was starting to shift in and out of consciousnes. That's when I realised what was happening.

It was MY blood raining from the sky. IT WAS MY BLOOD THAT RAINED FROM THE SKY! It was my blood, and the blood of that woman, and the blood of her child, and the blood of that homeless man, and the blood of the dogs. It was the blood of everything that lived that was raining from the sky. It was the most precious substance a living being could have that had made this beatiful, magnificent, and astonishing vision into reality. Was this a tragedy?

I laid down on the ground on my puddle of leaves. I was covered in blood, I was cold, I was tired, I was faint. I was gonna die like everybody else. There was nothing I could do about it. So I laid on my back, I opened my mouth and I tasted the sweet blood. I tasted the sweet blood that rained form the sky until it all turned black.